BEIJING - China's state newspapers stuck closely to script on Sunday, printing only the official news agency's report on the cremation of former leader Zhao Ziyang, purged for opposing the use of force to end protests in 1989.

The one-time general secretary of the Communist Party died on Jan. 17 at the age of 85, having spent the last 15 years of his life under house arrest after being sacked and accused of splitting the party.

Most newspapers in Beijing, including the party mouthpiece People's Daily, printed the brief Xinhua news agency item in the upper left hand corner of the second page, but the People's Liberation Army Daily stuck it on the back page.

Front pages were dominated by news of Saturday's non-stop airliner flights between China and Taiwan, the first in more than five decades.

Zhao lost power in May 1989 after opposing the decision by paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and other party elders to send in troops and tanks to crush the pro-democracy protests centered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

"In the political turbulence which took place in the late spring and early summer of 1989, Comrade Zhao committed serious mistakes," the report run by the newspapers said. Anchors read out the report on state television.

It was the first official commentary on Zhao in years.

Hundreds were killed on the night of June 3-4, 1989, when troops fired into crowds as they advanced on the square to put down the student-led democracy movement.

The leadership has kept tight controls on media coverage of Zhao's death, nervous that an outpouring of grief might spark protests, as happened in April 1989 when Zhao's predecessor as party chief, the reform-minded Hu Yaobang, died.

The Xinhua obituary, however, gave Zhao credit for his contributions before 1989. As premier for much of the 1980s, Zhao had launched market reforms that helped convert backward China into a fledgling economic powerhouse.

"The objective judgment of Ziyang made by the Central Committee shows that our party still has hope. There is hope for the people!!!" said a posting on Sunday on an online bulletin board on the Web side of the People's Daily, www.people.com.cn.

Moments later, the posting was removed.

Security was tightened in Tiananmen Square after Zhao's death.

On Sunday, tour groups braved the cold to visit the world's biggest public square. Uniformed and plainclothes police carried out spot I.D. checks as people entered and searched some bags.

What appeared to be extra police vans were parked near the Monument to the People's Heroes in the center of the vast open space.

Within hours of Saturday's funeral, there were few signs at the Babaoshan cemetery in western Beijing that the ceremony had taken place.

The crowd of mourners that had gathered at the cemetery gates was gone and the heavy police presence dissipated.

Additional reporting by Brian Rhoads

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